The meeting of the cats

The blood has dried and my face doesn't sting anymore, but I won't be trying to introduce Lewis and Kate again for a long time.

Katie had kind of a crazy day yesterday. Her second kitten left to go to it's new home, she had lots of new visitors she had never met, and we had loud fireworks in the evening. Today things were calmer, but I think she has noticed the missing two kittens as she was crying some today off and on. She always calmed down when I would go in the garage, so I think she just wanted some company.

This afternoon I decided to try to introduce Kate to Lewis. I put the two remaining kittens in the carrier (which made Katie meow a little bit, but she didn't get too upset). Then I opened the garage door, went inside and picked up Lewis while he watched Kate. Kate immediately came inside, squatted really close to the floor with all of her claws out, and looked at Lewis ready to attack. Lewis scratched his way out of my arms and jumped to the floor ready to attack back. I quickly pushed Katie back in the garage, let the kittens out of the carrier, and closed the door. Then I came back in and noticed blood dripping down my neck from where Lewis scratched my face. It wasn't too bad, just a small battle wound. I went back out to check on Kate and the kittens later and they were doing fine. I'm not sure what my next plan of action will be though....

Here is Topher (formerly Number 3), taking his afternoon nap on the boxes.

And here is Willie (formerly Number 1), taking his afternoon nap on the chair...

And here is Lewis taking his afternoon nap by my side while I work on the computer :)

Number 2 gets a new home!

Just a day after Number 4 got a new home, Abbey and her brother Colton arrived to pick up Number 2 and take him to his new home in Hutchinson. Rafiki (formerly Number 2) will be going home to live with Taj, another playful cat in need of a new playmate, so I'm sure he will fit right in!

Katie seems to be adjusting pretty well to having two of her babies gone. She cried a little bit tonight as she looked around for them, but seemed to settle down pretty quickly once I went to check on her. Tomorrow I'm thinking about introducing Katie and Lewis to see how that goes....

Number 4 gets a new home!!!

Today was a special day for Number 4 - he got to have a bath, get his nails trimmed, meet his new mom, and go to his new home! Here is a photo of Ninja (formerly Number 4) with his new mom Erin. Below are some photos from his bath with Marla. It was little scary for him, but he was very brave and did just fine.

Playing in the house

The kittens are really getting big now! I let them play in the house for a couple of hours today because it was getting stuffy in the garage again. Lewis took a nap locked in my room upstairs. Here's a photo of mamma and Number 2 on the stairs, and then a short video of clip of Number 4 playing on the stairs.

Four Boys!

The babies went to the vet today for their first visit. They are 8 weeks old, and one of them is not weaning as quickly as the others, so I wanted to get them checked out. The vet gave them their first set of vaccinations, which they took very well, and checked them out only to discover they all had ear mites, in varying degrees. The vet gave them a treatment and said to check them again in 30 days. I'm afraid this is probably from living in my garage, unfortunately! But the big news of the day was finding out their sex. I was pretty sure I had one girl and three boys, but I was wrong. All boys! No wonder they like to fight so much! I think Numbers 2 and 4 will be ready to go to their new homes next weekend, and I'm still looking for homes for Numbers 1 and 3, which is probably okay because Number 3 is the one who is not wanting to wean as quickly. Here they are on the table at the vet's office, not wanting to get out of their carrier :)

I also had them weighed, and despite appearances, they were all pretty close in size. Number 4 looks so much bigger, but it's really just from all that fluffy hair! He weighs 2.3 ounces, the Numbers 1 and 2 weighed 2.2 ounces. Number 3, the one that won't eat the canned food yet, weighed only 1.7 ounces. But the vet said he was fine, just probably taking his time.

approved homes found for 2 kittens!

The kittens had a fun evening when Marla and Craig came over to visit. They got to come in the house for the second time, and then Craig played fun games with them in the garage (see picture below).


Another highlight of the evening was the announcement of the first approved home! Craig and Marla's friend Erin has completed the application process and been approved as the new owner of Number 4 (below). As soon as the kittens are ready, off she goes! We go to the vet on Saturday to determine their sex, get their first immunizations, and make sure they are all healthy so they can hopefully go to new homes in a week or so. I'm sure this one will enjoy all the attention Erin will give her, as she already thinks she is the princess (thanks to Marla constantly telling her how adorable she is!).

After the fun guests left, I received another application, so now we have an approved home for Number 2! He will be going to live with Abbey and Colton in Hutchinson. This little guy likes to play and jump and attack the most, so he will have a great time with 14 year old Colton and their other pets. Lots of people and animals and to stalk and pounce on!

After all the activity, the kittens chased down their mom for some more nursing (I've got to work on this weaning stuff since they are 8 weeks old today), then three of them settled in the trash can for some rest.

Poor momma cat....

Here is a photo of Number 2 and Number 4 sitting beside each and behaving nicely. This is a rare photo, because this NEVER happens! They had been nursing, when Katie got tired of it and stood and walked away, leaving them sitting there. It took them about 5 seconds before they started getting into trouble again, so luckily, I got the shot right in time!



And here's a photo of Number 1 with his face at his momma's butt as he watches closely while she uses the litter box. Poor Kate, she has no privacy! I'm suprised he got away without any poop on his nose, he was that close!

And here is Katie nursing her gigantic kittens! Actually, they are not that big, it's just that she is small adult cat, so they are gaining on her quickly. I can't imagine how she has any energy left after nursing those wild kittens several times a day!

updated kitten profile pics

Number 1 (trying to give me the sophisticated pose):



Number 2 (always ready with a good pose, right before he tackles someone...):



Number 3 (was a little camera shy today):

Number 4 (getting fluffier every day!):

Kitten Adoption Information

Now that the kittens are nearing 8 weeks of age, it's time to start finding homes for them. I have had several people express interest in them, in fact I've had more people interested than I have kittens. My cat consultant, Marla, has developed an application and contract to help me with the process. If you are interested in a kitten, please email me and I will send you the forms to see if you are still interested. I don't think the kittens will be ready right at 8 weeks, but hopefully sometime in the next couple of weeks. They are still nursing, though not nearly as often as they used to. I still can't really tell which sex they are, so I'm thinking about taking them to the vet to get their first checkup and vaccination and find out for sure. If I do that, there may be a small fee to adopt a kitten to help pay for my vet costs.

Kittens Week Seven

Today was a big day for the kittens! I had decided to let Katie in the house for a few hours this weekend so she could have a break from the babies. On Saturday, it worked for a little bit, although Number 3 snuck in the house for part of the time, and Katie kept going back and forth between the garage and the house the whole time. I decided to try it again on Sunday. I put a barracade (suitcase) up to block the door so Katie could come inside, but the kittens would stay in the garage, but the door was still open to help air it out (which just ends up stinking up my house). This time, the kittens all climbed over the barracade, so I gave up and let them all inside, and just tried to block off the basement. They had a blast checking out a new space, and while that was happening, they also had lots of visitors. We had the Castelli family visit first, which got them all excited, then the Scharping family came by. I think the kittens got a little overstimulated because they soon ran back in the garage and starting hiding behind boxes. But I was able to get this cute photo of Lizzie holding all the kittens, and a video of the kids with three of the kittens (one took off for the garage). After all the visitors left, the kittens nursed for a minute, then crawled in their baskets and crates for a long nap (see photos below)!

Wrestle Mania and Nap Time

Today when I came home from work, Number 2 and Number 4 were sleeping in a basket (they were sleeping together in the top photo, then they split up as you see in the video below). Number 1 and Number 3 were having a serious wrestling match, which I caught a little bit of on video. It went on for a long time, so I didn't get the whole thing. Momma Kate just ignored them all, as any good mother would do.

I wanted to post this picture below, of Number 4 nursing, to show how big the kittens are getting! This photo made me think about this episode of Oprah that I saw about ten years ago. Oprah was doing a special on breastfeeding and she was interviewing these moms who were still breastfeeding their three and even four year olds! I remember one mom complaining that she couldn't get her kid to stop nursing and that he would just come up to her and lift her shirt and ask for a drink. Oprah pretty much told her to take charge of the situation and not let the kid be pushing her around! So I was thinking about poor Kate, who is having to nurse kittens who are going to be as big as she is soon! She's pretty small though, so that's not saying much. But I think she's in control of the situation, as she cuts off the nursing often, even if it means the babies start crying and following her around wanting more. She's a good momma, so she won't have to go on Oprah to learn how to take charge of her babies.

Kittens and late night stupid meetings

Kittens waking up from naptime. I am only up this late (midnight), because my friend Kelly called an emergency meeting for a group of our college friends on facebook for ten o'clock her time, forgetting it was midnight my time. I asked her what the meeting was about, and she said it was just because it was funny. I can't pass up on a purposeless meeting just for laughs :) Especially with my friends Kelly and Tracey.

Kitten Profiles

When I got back into town tonight I spent some extra time with the kittens since I had not seen them in two days. I have finally figured out how to tell them all apart, so I worked on getting some individual pictures so i could post my first "kitty profiles". I'm too tired to give them names tonight, so I gave them numbers instead. I'll let their future owners pick names for them. By the way, they are six weeks old today! Here they are:


This is Number 1. I like to call this kitten Number 1 because it has been the first to do everything. This was the first kitten to try the liter box, the first one to venture outside the walls my mother put up, the first one to start using momma's liter box, and now it's the one who is ahead on the weaning process. In fact, in this picture above, the other three kittens were nursing, but this one was just hanging alone. It is showing less interest in nursing than any of the others are, and can be found eating the kitten food fairly often. I think this one is a boy, but they really look all alike to me, so I'm not sure about that. That will have to be my next task. But this kitty is definitely the risk taker and most independent one of the bunch.

This is Number 2. This one (I also think it is a boy, but again, I'm not sure) is almost as adventureous as Number 1, but just not as quick to be the first one to do all the new things. This one is really ornery and is often found wrestling and biting the other kittens. It loves to play and I rarely see it alone. It is frequently found sleeping on or under another kitty and seems to be very social. And very busy. It also seems to initiate human contact more than any of the other kittens. It comes up to me often, has tried climbing up my pants, and likes to lick my fingers.

This is Number 3. Number 3 and Number 1 look an awful lot alike, but Number 3 has more gray hair on it's belly, while Number 1 is more of an all black cat, with a very shiny coat. Number 3 is very timid and seems to be the most afraid of human contact. It likes to sleep and play with the other kittens though, and will let me pet it as long as I don't sneak up on it. It's very jumpy if I pet it from behind, but warms up pretty quickly. For those of you who remember some of my earlier pictures, I'm pretty sure this was the kitten yawning in the photo I took during the first week, with it's legs propped up on it's sibling.

And finally, Number 4. This one has a much thicker coat than the other three as you can see from this photo. I think this one is a girl, but i'm not sure. It also is somewhat timid, but not quite as much as Number 3. I often find this one sleeping alone somewhere, while the other three are piled on top of one another for a nap. It still likes to play as much as the others though, but I was thinking if there was any cat that would want to go to a single cat home, it would probably be this one. It also is a little weary of human contact if I try to pet it from behind, but it warms up to me quickly.

kitten exploration

I'm really tired tonight. I worked until 9:30 trying to get stuff ready for trainings I have to do tomorrow (Kansas City) and friday (Topeka). When I got home I locked Lewis in my bedroom so I could air out the garage. It is starting to get kind of warm in there during the day, so I like to put a fan at the door and turn my air conditioner up high for a little while to cool it down. The only problem is that now the rest of my house is starting to smell like cat, not just the garage. I'll have to do some serious cleanign when all the kittens are gone. So tonight while I was airing out the garage, Kate decided to check out the inside of the house. I let her wander in, thinking she wouldn't go too far from her kittens. She ended up wandering around for about 30 minutes, ending up right outside my bedroom door where Lewis was locked up. She didn't want to leave, so I had to coach her (push her with my foot) to get her back into the garage. She's also started this thing where she tries to keep me from touching the kittens now. She follows me all around the garage, rubbing against my legs constantly, and if she thinks I'm going to bend over to touch a kitten, she slaps me with her paw. This is a new thing for her and i hope it doesn't last too long. She still doesn't like me to touch her, but she seems very comfortable with touching me. She's funny. The kittens haven't tried to explore in the house yet, but i'm sure it's coming soon. They are often waiting on the steps when I open the door, like in the picture above. They are cute, but i'm starting to think it will be a relief when they finally go to their new homes!

Kitten Video 5 1/2 weeks

Here is a video I took today of the wild kittens. They are almost 6 weeks old and they have a lot of energy. In this video, there is one kitten, the calm fluffy one, who sleeps the whole time in the blue crate while her siblings jump on her, chase each other, and run crazy. I think the gray tabby kitten might be a little bit of a bully, as you can see later in the video. He's the smallest one, but he seems to like to fight the most.

Busy, busy, kittens!

Whew! The kittens are so busy, all of the time now. The spend all of their time running all over the garage, chasing each other, getting into boxes, tackling each other, tackling their mother, jumping on boxes, running some more... They seem to sleep in short segments, then as soon as there is any noise, they are up and running again. I'm assuming they sleep pretty good during the night. They still nurse from their momma occasionally, but it is obvious she is trying wean them. In the photo above, Kate was resting on top of a box when three of the four kittens found her and decided they were hungry. She let them eat for about 30 seconds, then she just got up and walked away, as you can see in the photo. The kittens just resumed running and playing! But fortunately, as you can see in the photo below, they are starting to show an interest in the canned and dry food, so I'm sure they will be weaned before too long. I went shopping this weekend and stocked up on lots of kitten food and kitty litter, so I'm ready for all their eating and pooping :)